


Of Empty Streets and Seasalt

by ProwlingThunder



Series: Stars Which Never Were [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Crossover / AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-24 10:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4916437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProwlingThunder/pseuds/ProwlingThunder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxas and Axel investigate a world that isn't; it doesn't quite go as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Empty Streets and Seasalt

**Author's Note:**

> There are more planned in this set, but this was a good stopping point. Enjoy!

The whole planet was neon city after neon city, still lit up like Christmas. And it was empty, devoid of people like they had just been plucked out of thin air. Or like they had never been there at all, the World That Never Was.

He picked his way down the pavement and tried to shake the feeling of deja vu that came with walking down these streets. It wasn't raining yet, though the sky threatened it, and he thought about the acid rain on Nar Shadaa, the way it bit into his skin, and wondered what rain on a nameless world must be like. It might be worth risking.

He walked past a bar with neon signs in green, and heard his partner stop walking. “There's probably nothing in there,” he told him, glancing over his shoulder to see the Firrerreo flashing him a crooked, fanged smile. Under the neon his mane of two-tone red and _red_ looked slick and silky, begging to be touched. A temptation that was hard to resist on any day. “What is it?” 

“Roxas,” Axel nearly purred. “They have _Cambriant Whiskey_.”

Which was his favorite. Boy, did he ever want some right now.

He glanced down the street both directions and then turned, heading for the door. “Let's see if there are any bottles left. It's not like anyone's in a rush here.”

They did not, in fact, have Cambriant Whiskey. Axel found a shipping manifesto in the back, dated never, that said it was “due in tomorrow”. They did find several other perfectly good synthetic alcohol, but nothing tasted as good as the real things, and the alcohols that did remain were all top-shelf things that would get them drunker than they needed to be at this particular hour.

They left the establishment untouched for the time being and continued down the street. Then they raided the ice-cream shop for Sea-salt Ice-cream, which was actually better than having a shot of Cambriant even on a bad day, but especially on a hot day like today. Roxas had no idea why. Maybe he had dreamed himself into having that addiction. He had dreamed of stranger things.

He had dreamed of the Echani watching them from the clock tower.

There were two of them, both tall and fair-haired, both wrapped in heavy duty black cloaks, not unlike those he and Axel wore. One wore a strip of dark cloth over his eyes, but the other had ocean-blue, and Roxas knew him.

He'd grown up with him, playing in the surf of a beach paradise, picking out starfish and minnows. Making rafts to sail to other worlds. It had always been sunny, the weather clear. He remembered it; it had rained so rarely it may as well never had. They had climbed beach trees to knock down coconuts, drank the milk through reed straws..

“Riku!” Riku flicked blue eyes to look at him, and Roxas reached out to tug on Axel's sleeve, urging him to move quicker.

“You know them?” Axel queried, voice low and pitched to stay close. Roxas made an affirmative sound in the back of his throat, remembering sword-fights with wooden sticks and a final score of _ninety nine to ninety eight_. 

“I grew up with him, back on the island.”

Axel's voice was low and rough, coming in like the crunch of ice on gravel. It sounded further away than Axel was, distant and distracting. Roxas kept his eyes on Riku, who tracked their approach like an eagle. “What island? What world? Roxas, stop, _listen to me--_ ”

They stopped in front of the pair and Roxas examined his childhood friend intently, looking at the signs of change. Life had been good to him, island or no island. Still, he really had no idea why he had left; it had been so perfect there. How old had they been anyway? Fifteen, fourteen?

“Namine is loosing her touch,” Riku commented dryly, glancing at the man next to him, and the name felt like ice closing around his heart. His pulse pounded in his ears. Heat bloomed from his shoulders and traced fireworks across his vision, bold and bright in the darkening edges. For a moment, Roxas thought he would drown in it, it felt like he was falling, he could see the ocean beneath him as he went down, down, down....

“ _Roxas!_ ”


End file.
